2011 ECAC Post-season

[nyc94]

When I went to school, Cornell required 8 liberal electives for engineers - one per semester - plus two unrestriced electives senior year.  While I wasn't going to enjoy the writing aspect of them, some of them (Psych 101, US History 1945-1980, and of course wine-tasting) turned out to be some of the most interesting classes I took at Cornell.  OTOH, some of them (Econ 101 and 102) were dull and boring and simply served to complete the requirement.

Did they have "writing seminars" when you were a freshman?

[Towerroad]

When I went to school, Cornell required 8 liberal electives for engineers - one per semester - plus two unrestriced electives senior year.  While I wasn't going to enjoy the writing aspect of them, some of them (Psych 101, US History 1945-1980, and of course wine-tasting) turned out to be some of the most interesting classes I took at Cornell.  OTOH, some of them (Econ 101 and 102) were dull and boring and simply served to complete the requirement.

Did they have "writing seminars" when you were a freshman?

I believe the freshmen writing seminars go back to either 1970 or 1969. They were in place when I arrived in 1970. Arguably one of the most useful classes I ever took.

[nyc94]

When I went to school, Cornell required 8 liberal electives for engineers - one per semester - plus two unrestriced electives senior year.  While I wasn't going to enjoy the writing aspect of them, some of them (Psych 101, US History 1945-1980, and of course wine-tasting) turned out to be some of the most interesting classes I took at Cornell.  OTOH, some of them (Econ 101 and 102) were dull and boring and simply served to complete the requirement.

Did they have "writing seminars" when you were a freshman?

I believe the freshmen writing seminars go back to either 1970 or 1969. They were in place when I arrived in 1970. Arguably one of the most useful classes I ever took.

The reason I ask is I was wondering if they cut back the number of liberal arts classes for engineers when the writing seminars were introduced.  I feel like for my class it was six liberal arts/social sciences classes plus 6 credits of "free elective".  The only other restriction I remember was that at least one of the liberal arts classes had to be 300 level and have a 100 level you had already taken as prerequisite.  And 6 credits of "free elective" was a mild nuisance because Wines was 2 credits.

[ACM]

When I went to school, Cornell required 8 liberal electives for engineers - one per semester - plus two unrestriced electives senior year.  While I wasn't going to enjoy the writing aspect of them, some of them (Psych 101, US History 1945-1980, and of course wine-tasting) turned out to be some of the most interesting classes I took at Cornell.  OTOH, some of them (Econ 101 and 102) were dull and boring and simply served to complete the requirement.

Did they have "writing seminars" when you were a freshman?

I believe the freshmen writing seminars go back to either 1970 or 1969. They were in place when I arrived in 1970. Arguably one of the most useful classes I ever took.

Before then; they were in place when I was a freshman in 1967.

[nyc94]

When I went to school, Cornell required 8 liberal electives for engineers - one per semester - plus two unrestriced electives senior year.  While I wasn't going to enjoy the writing aspect of them, some of them (Psych 101, US History 1945-1980, and of course wine-tasting) turned out to be some of the most interesting classes I took at Cornell.  OTOH, some of them (Econ 101 and 102) were dull and boring and simply served to complete the requirement.

Did they have "writing seminars" when you were a freshman?

I believe the freshmen writing seminars go back to either 1970 or 1969. They were in place when I arrived in 1970. Arguably one of the most useful classes I ever took.

Before then; they were in place when I was a freshman in 1967.

This prompted me to do a little research.  http://www.arts.cornell.edu/knight_institute/history.htm

1966
Cornell revitalizes the teaching of first-year writing by replacing a program based solely in the Department of English with freshman humanities courses taught in nine departments. The program continues to be administered by the English Department.

Also, the program was endowed and named ("The John S. Knight Writing Program") in 1986 which might explain why I thought it was younger than it is.

[phillysportsfan]

When I went to school, Cornell required 8 liberal electives for engineers - one per semester - plus two unrestriced electives senior year.  While I wasn't going to enjoy the writing aspect of them, some of them (Psych 101, US History 1945-1980, and of course wine-tasting) turned out to be some of the most interesting classes I took at Cornell.  OTOH, some of them (Econ 101 and 102) were dull and boring and simply served to complete the requirement.

Did they have "writing seminars" when you were a freshman?

I believe the freshmen writing seminars go back to either 1970 or 1969. They were in place when I arrived in 1970. Arguably one of the most useful classes I ever took.

The reason I ask is I was wondering if they cut back the number of liberal arts classes for engineers when the writing seminars were introduced.  I feel like for my class it was six liberal arts/social sciences classes plus 6 credits of "free elective".  The only other restriction I remember was that at least one of the liberal arts classes had to be 300 level and have a 100 level you had already taken as prerequisite.  And 6 credits of "free elective" was a mild nuisance because Wines was 2 credits.

Yeah I forgot about the writing seminars but those two writing seminars despite being painful were well worth it

[Rosey]

I believe the freshmen writing seminars go back to either 1970 or 1969. They were in place when I arrived in 1970. Arguably one of the most useful classes I ever took.

My writing seminar was utterly useless. The grad student teaching it clearly didn't give a crap, and I didn't learn anything useful about writing except that I should use "he or she" instead of "he" when gender is indeterminate. (Yes, 16½ years later I still remember that.)

IMO, learning to write well takes practice writing about things that are important to the writer: that provides incentive for making the prose interesting and (if applicable) persuasive.

[Towerroad]

That was not my experience. I took an anthropology course, which was interesting, but we had to produce an essay every week. My first ones were bad, real bad and the teacher told me so. I went to him for help he made me come back week after week at office hours and every week he went over the basics, outlining, drafting, revising, and in my case writing the way I speak. By the end of the class I was a much more confident and competent writer. I can't tell you what the class was about or even the Professors name but I am forever thankful for his help, the course, and the program.

[French Rage]

When I went to school, Cornell required 8 liberal electives for engineers - one per semester - plus two unrestriced electives senior year.  While I wasn't going to enjoy the writing aspect of them, some of them (Psych 101, US History 1945-1980, and of course wine-tasting) turned out to be some of the most interesting classes I took at Cornell.  OTOH, some of them (Econ 101 and 102) were dull and boring and simply served to complete the requirement.

Did they have "writing seminars" when you were a freshman?

I believe the freshmen writing seminars go back to either 1970 or 1969. They were in place when I arrived in 1970. Arguably one of the most useful classes I ever took.

The reason I ask is I was wondering if they cut back the number of liberal arts classes for engineers when the writing seminars were introduced.  I feel like for my class it was six liberal arts/social sciences classes plus 6 credits of "free elective".  The only other restriction I remember was that at least one of the liberal arts classes had to be 300 level and have a 100 level you had already taken as prerequisite.  And 6 credits of "free elective" was a mild nuisance because Wines was 2 credits.

During my time (2000-2004), if I'm remembering right, it was two semesters of writing seminar and 6 liberal arts electives, and I think the electives had some minimums for certain categories of liberal arts electives.  I don't recall if a certain number had to be at a specific level or if the requirement was in terms of courses or credits.

[French Rage]

When I went to school, Cornell required 8 liberal electives for engineers - one per semester - plus two unrestriced electives senior year.  While I wasn't going to enjoy the writing aspect of them, some of them (Psych 101, US History 1945-1980, and of course wine-tasting) turned out to be some of the most interesting classes I took at Cornell.  OTOH, some of them (Econ 101 and 102) were dull and boring and simply served to complete the requirement.

Did they have "writing seminars" when you were a freshman?

I believe the freshmen writing seminars go back to either 1970 or 1969. They were in place when I arrived in 1970. Arguably one of the most useful classes I ever took.

The reason I ask is I was wondering if they cut back the number of liberal arts classes for engineers when the writing seminars were introduced.  I feel like for my class it was six liberal arts/social sciences classes plus 6 credits of "free elective".  The only other restriction I remember was that at least one of the liberal arts classes had to be 300 level and have a 100 level you had already taken as prerequisite.  And 6 credits of "free elective" was a mild nuisance because Wines was 2 credits.

During my time (2000-2004), if I'm remembering right, it was two semesters of writing seminar and 6 liberal arts electives, and I think the electives had some minimums for certain categories of liberal arts electives.  I don't recall if a certain number had to be at a specific level or if the requirement was in terms of courses or credits.

Edit: Here's the current page: http://www.engr.cornell.edu/academics/undergraduate/curriculum/liberal_studies.cfm.   Looks to be roughly what I said.  In my case, thank god for AP credits!

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

When I went to school, Cornell required 8 liberal electives for engineers - one per semester - plus two unrestriced electives senior year.  While I wasn't going to enjoy the writing aspect of them, some of them (Psych 101, US History 1945-1980, and of course wine-tasting) turned out to be some of the most interesting classes I took at Cornell.  OTOH, some of them (Econ 101 and 102) were dull and boring and simply served to complete the requirement.

Did they have "writing seminars" when you were a freshman?

I believe the freshmen writing seminars go back to either 1970 or 1969. They were in place when I arrived in 1970. Arguably one of the most useful classes I ever took.

The reason I ask is I was wondering if they cut back the number of liberal arts classes for engineers when the writing seminars were introduced.  I feel like for my class it was six liberal arts/social sciences classes plus 6 credits of "free elective".  The only other restriction I remember was that at least one of the liberal arts classes had to be 300 level and have a 100 level you had already taken as prerequisite.  And 6 credits of "free elective" was a mild nuisance because Wines was 2 credits.

During my time (2000-2004), if I'm remembering right, it was two semesters of writing seminar and 6 liberal arts electives, and I think the electives had some minimums for certain categories of liberal arts electives.  I don't recall if a certain number had to be at a specific level or if the requirement was in terms of courses or credits.

They had the "Freshman Seminars" when I was there.  The first one I took,called "Fantasy" was totally useless.  However, in the other,called "Science as Literature" we read some quite interesting stuff.  For example, we read "The Double Helix" by Watson and Crick, a volume of essays by Einstein, and the play "In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer" among others.

Regarding the liberal electives, there was a very specific list of courses which were acceptable.  Any course in certain departments, such as English or History were allowed, but other courses with a more scientific or mathematical bent, such as Statistics, were not allowed.

[Josh '99]

They had the "Freshman Seminars" when I was there.  The first one I took,called "Fantasy" was totally useless.  However, in the other,called "Science as Literature" we read some quite interesting stuff.  For example, we read "The Double Helix" by Watson and Crick, a volume of essays by Einstein, and the play "In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer" among others.

Seems like freshman writing seminars are basically like anything else:  some of them are useful and some aren't.  Some are taught by instructors who care about helping the students learn and some aren't.  There were core classes in my engineering major I found to be pretty useless in the long run too.

[Trotsky]

As with anything worthwhile, if you aren't being challenged, challenge yourself.

[Jim Hyla]

As with anything worthwhile, if you aren't being challenged, challenge yourself.

I totally agree. One of the things I really liked about CU was the ability to go outside your area of expertise. I remember taking a course in Medieval History. It was recommended by a history major based upon some conversations we had. I had no lower level history courses, unless you count high school as really lower:-}, I didn't get a great grade, but it was a lot of fun. The prof knew I was an engineer and worked with me, and I really enjoyed the course.

An Aggie recommended that I take a course in Ag. Ec. and learn about the futures markets; I got to do some simulated trading during the semester. That wasn't as challenging as Med. His. but fun. The fact that I could socialize with students in other colleges was really key.

[Swampy]

They had the "Freshman Seminars" when I was there.  The first one I took,called "Fantasy" was totally useless.  However, in the other,called "Science as Literature" we read some quite interesting stuff.  For example, we read "The Double Helix" by Watson and Crick, a volume of essays by Einstein, and the play "In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer" among others.

Seems like freshman writing seminars are basically like anything else:  some of them are useful and some aren't.  Some are taught by instructors who care about helping the students learn and some aren't.  There were core classes in my engineering major I found to be pretty useless in the long run too.

Well, RPI was my, dare I say it, 5@#&+^ school. At Cornell we had to take freshman English. I remember reading Orwell and D.H. Lawrence. I didn't understand them at such a tender age, but how else do you learn to understand the all-time greats? I took a philosophy class on symbolic logic and aced it. But then my department chair in Engineering said it shouldn't have been allowed as a liberal arts elective for engineers. He was right. If anything, I wish Cornell had made me take more liberal arts, especially history, real philosophy, and history of or comparative economic thought.

I agree that lots of the engineering core was useless. Why make an electrical engineer take chemistry? On the other hand, maybe they wanted to expose us to the different engineering specializations, and I still love the fact that I learned quantum mechanics, even though I only use it when I'm doing home repairs on weekends.

As for the difference between A&S and Engineering, I think it's really overblown. The last time I looked, average SAT's were something like 690V/740M in Engineering and 740V/690M in A&S. Students in either school should be quite good with either side of their brains.

Psych 101, on the other hand, was quite a waste of time, except it taught me about rat psychology and B. F. Skinner. I wish I had learned more about human psychology. Then I might have gotten a job showing Congressional delegations around Afghanistan.